Vehicle Research

September Commercial Fleet Sales Increase 25%

Sales of vehicles to commercial fleets from eight manufactures increased 25.7% to 51,112 in September with strong sales in the truck category, according to Automotive Fleet data.

During the month, sales of pickups, vans, and SUVs increased 32.5% to 44,864 compared to September of 2016. Sales of passenger cars fell 8.2% to 6,248.

For the year to date, sales to commercial fleets have slipped 1.6% to 519,081. Truck-based sales have increased 5% to 453,158, while car sales have fallen 16.9% to 65,923.

Sales to government fleets from five manufacturers fell 4% to 19,633 for the month with truck sales flat at minus 0.9% to 15,400 and car sales increasing 26.7% to 4,233. For the year, government sales were flat at plus 0.3% to 220,737 with car sales up 2.2% to 41,485 units and truck-based sales flat with a slight decline of 0.1% to 179,390.

Daily rental sales from nine manufacturers fell 1.8% to 130,264 units with a 9.5% increase to 65,954 units in car sales and a 5% decline to 64,310 units in truck-based sales. Year-to-date sales fell 0.2% to 1.43 million vehicles with a 0.8% decline to 730,476 in car sales and a 0.5% decline to 706,337 units in truck-based sales.

For all three segments, fleet sales in September increased 7.2% to 201,009 units with a 8.6% increase to 76,435 in car sales and a 6.4% increase to 124,574 units in truck-based sales. Year to date, the three fleet segments have fallen 10.2% to 1.94 million with a 18.8% decline in car sales to 686,161 and a 4.7% decline to 1.25 million in truck sales.